Dark Hunt
by introspecticskeptic
Summary: As Joel and Marlene fight their battle of wills over Ellie, the soldiers beneath them also struggle to survive - except for one soldier who is willing to risk it all to complete his grave task
1. Darkness Reigns

The setting sun gives the appearance of a roaring fire to the dingy walls of the room. The colors distract me and I find myself wondering if I could really burn this place to the ground without getting caught or killed. Someone is saying my name breaking me of my reverie.

I'm supposed to be getting my debriefing after bring in Asset, but I'm so close to her that I can't focus. My SO goes to repeat himself when a sudden bang stops him. Someone is shouting, then there's another bang. Not a bang, a gunshot. A third gunshot sounds. I can feel the adrenalin kicking in, time seems to slow and I am acutely aware of my surroundings. I quickly count the six men in the room with me, and how they'll need about two minutes to be fully ready to engage. I feel the rough leather of my holster as I draw Frieda – my modified pistol designed to fire hard and quietly, issued to me by FEDRA. I dash down the hallway and can count the number of men rushing with me where we find Ethan's body, his eyes staring at nothing as the blood coagulates around the bullet-hole in his head. But the thing that scares me the most, even as they scramble shouting about Ethan, _Daniel, where is the Smuggler? Daniel, run! _I run down the hallway, all pretenses of courage and honor left with the distant stare of that bloody corpse.

The others can't understand my fear – they didn't have to track the Smuggler through Pittsburg. I've seen what this monster can do. And I can't die yet, not until I can get Lissy's ruined face out of my dreams. I hear gun fire again – they've cornered the Smuggler they say, but I know that it's only a moment before…oh God. The sound of a small bomb is nearly drowned out by the screams of the dying. I keep running, further and further from the demon. I find myself in the MRI lab, and I quickly duck behind the machine to catch my breath. Outside the room I can hear men running, but a loud crack of a rifle rings out and one of the men falls back. I can see him through the door to the lab, and I can't help but to shudder at the visible grey matter spilling out of the ruined head. One of his comrades shows up to collect his tag and spots me.

"Hey, D…" The arrow sprouting from his throat quickly stills the question. I start to rise when I hear an ominous thud, followed by quick footsteps. I shrink even further and see a dark form run past, only pausing to rip the arrow out of the corpse. I remember to breathe when he disappears down the hallway.

_Daniel, you have to keep moving, he's likely to return here. You need to find her, and find her before he finds you! Move! _It's enough to shake me from my stupor, I rise on shaky legs and start running blindly when someone grabs me on the shoulder; I react on pure instinct, swinging a wild haymaker. That gets blocked, and I go for my knife in its sheathe when I'm thrown to the ground. Before I can rise my assailant shouts, "Daniel! Where the fuck are you going?" It's Jack, my closest friend in this shit hole. He's wearing helmet and armor and I rise as he finishes loading his assault rifle.

"Did they use those already?" He only gives an incredulous head shake at my question and pushes me on the shoulder.

"Daniel, do your duty! He's killing our family! I know you're fucked up, but goddamn, you have to feel something!"

"I do! I'm terrified Jack! Please, you didn't see Pittsburg, you didn't see the men with their necks snapped, shivs in their fucking necks! Jack, the Smuggler isn't human. You think I'm fucked up? That guy makes me look like a fucking nun!"

"Daniel, fucking fight or I swear to God I'll…the fuck is that?" We look down at the small cloth package that has rolled into view.

"Cover!" I call out as I dive into the nearby tarped triage center. Before I can even hit the ground the smoke bomb explodes and the smoke completely eliminates any chance of seeing what's going on. I can hear Jack hacking and wheezing, but it's cut short by the unmistakable sound of a stab and the wet smack of a body hitting the ground. His flashlight disconnects from the gun and illuminates my foot, but the Smuggler just picks up the gun and takes the ammo from the magazine. I hear him move off, and I wait for the smoke to clear before I even dare to move. I look over and see the broken shiv still in Jack's throat, a look of horror on his face.

"Oh God, Jack…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I say as I cross over to him and close his eyes and arrange the body before I loot it for anything I can use. I manage to find a few pistol bullets and load them into my gun before moving on. If the reports about the Smuggler are to be believed, he'll be moving towards the surgery room for the Asset. But my target lies on the other side of the hospital, guarding Queen. I pull out my knife and startle at the look my reflection has in the knife.

_Kill her Daniel…gut her the way she gutted Craig. Bleed her like she did to Claire. Kill Rip!_

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hello!_ This is a piece of a second longer story I worked on. Yes, it is Daniel from the first story but no, the timeline does not match up - it isn't supposed to. The original plan was to have a collection of drabbles and one shots exploring how Daniel and Michael would interact with the world around them, and try my hand at fiction writing as I've never done it before. If you guys (yeah, you awesome people who review/read/favorite my work 3) want I can continue like this, or I can expand one of these into a longer section, which ever you guys want!

-Intro


	2. Descent

I take a few deep breaths and the voice fades back into the incoherent ramble I'm used to. A few more breaths and even that disappears. A final deep breath and I feel it, the calm. The shrinks call it "disassociated" but they don't understand. I'm still here, it's my choice what I do – but I do it better, with no hesitation of emotion. I am in a better state, one where I can do what needs to be done. I can almost feel the Smuggler moving around in the hospital, and the chatter on the walkies fallen from the hands of their owners confirms my suspicions.

"Oh, fuck! He's moving to the surgery wing! Repeat, he's…wait, who's that? Who's, gah!"

"Shit, he got through! He's…" An explosion cuts him short. I focus and manage to place the source of the explosion near the stairs leading up. If I'm quick I can cut behind him and hit the elevator before they think to lock it down. Hell, I could send it up to him, God knows I hate what they're about to do Asset. Maybe that makes me a bad soldier, but no one deserves to die for this shit world.

My mom used to say, "For He so loved the World that He gave His one and only begotten son." I never understood it, who the fuck loves this shit hole of a world? I hear it used to be nice but then people started eating each other. Without meaning to, the thought of my mom drags me back to that day. The taste of metal in the air and the shattered doorframe warn me of what's to come. But it isn't until I see the bullet hole through our neighbor's head does it hit home. I can still remember running down the hall, hearing Lissy screaming for help. I throw open the door, and saw Rip cut Lissy's nose off. Lissy falls to the ground, exhausted from the blood loss from the missing fingers and ear. I scream – a primal, awful scream – and Rip just laughs. I charge her, but she steps to the side and jabs me with a needle. Within seconds the paralytic agent hits my system and I stumble to the ground as my limbs start to go dead.

Before I can fall to the ground, Rip grabs me and holds my face to hers, "Better luck next time Huntsman." She lets me collapse and the shock of my head hitting the ground knocks me out. When I awoke, they were all dead – my family, the neighbor, even the cat that Lissy loved so much. And Rip was gone.

_Daniel…Daniel! Snap out of it!_

The order wakes me from my memories and I realize that I'm at the elevator. I can hear some chatter from a nearby corpse and what I hear isn't good.

"Dammit! Does anyone have him?"

"No! Lost him heading up to surgery! Repeat, he's in route to surgery!"

I'm out of time, if I take the elevator the Smuggler will be trapped upstairs, but if I don't take it, Rip might get away.

_Or he might kill her. If she tries to stop him, he'll kill her Daniel. Even if she does kill him, she'll be slowed with returning the Asset. Send it to him._

I press the button for the top floor and move out of the way as the doors close. Soon the elevator disappears. With every light indicating the elevator climbing, I can feel my spirits sinking, and with no way to get to Rip my adrenalin is draining, leaving me tired and without the Calm.

"Where to Daniel, c'mon man. Think!" I look around trying to find some way to the basements where Hive is. I look back at the elevator and see it's moving down. I'm running out of time, even if Rip is slowed with Asset, she'll still be right by Hive and all the security around it. And if the Smuggler has any sense at all he would pull the emergency stop in the elevator to freeze it until it's put back in. But sometimes it takes a while to reset, meaning that Rip would likely take…

"Stairs! Where the fuck are the stairs?" My frantic questions are answered only by its echo. I grab a flashlight off of a corpse and start looking for the stairs. The third door I open gives me what I want and I start racing down the stairs, jumping over corners and slinging down the rails. I can feel the Calm coming back to me as I get closer to Rip.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and throw open the door and find myself in the back of Hive. I look through the office quickly and can't see the Smuggler or Rip in the vast sea of parked cars. When I first arrived, I remember being shocked at the number of cars here, but it hardly registers now. A gunshot interrupts my searching. I cautiously peer out a window and manage to make out the Smuggler holstering his pistol and getting into a truck. I duck back down to avoid being seen when I notice the gleam of a scope from behind me. A quick glance back through the window shows the Smuggler still hasn't left. He's in a truck, but he can't seem to get it started. I can hear the click of the chamber being slid and I know the smuggler only has seconds to live; so I act first. I quickly rush the sniper and grab the rifle, jerking it forward and then smashing it backwards to knock it loose. I flip the flimsy card table the sniper used to brace his gun on and stomp on the table over his head. I can hear something crack, but just to be sure I grab his hair and drag him out from under the table. His eyes weakly focus on before I smash his face into my knee. On reflex, I grab the rifle and look around with the scope to ensure that I was unheard.

The Smuggler is leaving in his truck and I can see what looks to be a blue piece of fabric in the window. Before I can think any more of it, he's gone and I finally get a chance to see what he shot. So does Rip, who is emerging from a nearby car where she presumably was hiding.

* * *

><p>AN: Hello again! Continuing the story of Daniel through the hospital hunting the mysterious Rip. Not going to lie, I feel like this is the weakest part of my story, I tend to write emotions and dialogue better than action but I wanted to try action just to see how it would go...hopefully you all like? Also, thanks to BenRG for the ideas for Chasing Dreams, I had been playing with it for a while, but the suggestion BenRG gave pushed me over the edge! So, except an update there soon!

-Intro


	3. Dawn's Early Light

"Marlene! Oh God, Marlene!" I line up the shot, but movement in my peripheral distracts me. I turn to face it, and catch a clumsy punch to the cheek. It's the guy I knocked out earlier, and he's pissed. He's shouting traitor and accusing me of killing Marlene, and I know Rip hears him. He leans back for another punch, but this time I'm ready. I knock it aside and using that momentum deliver a quick uppercut to his jaw. A short jab to the throat silences him, but knife to the gut ensures his silence. He falls to the ground and falls over with a soft thud. I can see Rip pulling out her pistol, but I duck behind the window and toss a smoke bomb I picked up back in Pittsburg.

Her shot hisses through the air above me and before she can line up her second shot to pierce the flimsy office wall the bomb explodes and the smoke fills the air. I can hear her hacking from the smoke, but I can't pinpoint her location from the echo in the parking garage. I know she'll recover soon, so I toss out an IED I got from a man in Lincoln just before he hung himself. If I'm lucky the shrapnel will be enough to kill her even if the explosion isn't.

Before it can go off, I jump into a car and hotwire it. The bomb goes off and distracts me before I can make the final connection. I should feel sad for killing my old mentor, but all I feel is relief. She butchered my family, and I killed her. All the pressure I've felt for the past 3 years fades away, and I even manage to smile. I start the car and decide to follow the Smuggler and Asset. Inopportune as it be, they're the closest thing to allies I have now. I start the car pull out of the parking garage and set off into the rising sun.


End file.
